


game day - nick blankenburg

by penaltbox



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:14:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23206804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penaltbox/pseuds/penaltbox
Kudos: 2





	game day - nick blankenburg

There are people literally everywhere, going in and out of houses all down the street. You can hear boys loudly yelling, attempting to drunkenly throw compliments at girls as they pass by. 

You’d never been over to this part of town in your two years at the university, but here you were, following your roommate along to the “hockey house” as she’d described it. There’s just as many people in and out of the house she stops in front of, which looks like it’s about ready to cave in on itself. This must be the targeted location for the day. 

“Are you sure it’s safe to go in there?” You mumble, but your wrist is grabbed and you’re being tugged inside before you can protest any further. 

You know your roommate is here to see some kid named Jack and she sets off to find him amongst all the people. What you didn’t realize was there were four Jack’s and two Jake’s just to make matters more confusing so as you met them you tried your best to make mental notes on who was who. 

“Leavy,” your roommate says, repeating the last name you kept forgetting. 

You’d probably forget again but you continue following her through the house, bumping into people left and right. Things clear a little near the table that’s set for beer pong and you never thought you’d be glad to see that set up. Your roommate hugs a guy who you recognize finally. He was the Jack you guys had been trying to find. 

“Hi, Jack Leavy,” he smiles, even reaching over to shake your hand. He points to a couple guys next to you then, “that’s Jack Becker and Nick. Nice dudes.”

You look over at the two and wave, getting hellos back. You glance back at your roommate and Leavy but they’re gone. You glance back at Becker and Nick, finding Nick laughing. 

“That’ll happen. She’s been here a couple times now and they can’t seem to keep their hands off each other,” he says, smiling at you. 

And wow. That was a smile you didn’t mind seeing. You try to pull yourself together, laughing a little with him. 

“Oh, I know. She’s told me all about him so far,” you say, looking at the game finishing up at the table. 

Nick gently touches your elbow, leaning closer, “I’m up next. I’m sure Becker would let you step in as my partner since your friend rushed off if you wanted to play. I don’t want any weird dudes hitting on you or anything, but it’s your call.”

You didn’t expect him to go out of his way like this but you certainly weren’t complaining. He was cute and polite. What was the catch here? You nod anyways and he puts a hand on the small of your back, leading you to the table. 

A few guys holler Nick’s name and it makes you blush, realizing he’d suddenly stepped forward with some girl who happened to be you. You look across the table and find two guys who look pretty messed up. You think you like your’s and Nick’s chances here. 

Nick gets a beer for you from a cooler and the game begins. Things go well for you both and you quickly eliminate the team you started against. 

A second team, two of his teammates it seems from the way they’re ripping on Nick about his play, steps up and then you’re in trouble. 

They seem to sink every little ping pong ball they throw and your beer is gone before you realize it. You lose pretty quickly, but Nick is a good sport about it. 

He steps off to the side with you, a bashful smile on his face, “Well that didn’t go very well. Sorry to ruin our winning streak.”

You brush it off, but continue talking to him for the rest of the time you’re there. Your friend comes and steals you eventually to leave and you’d almost forgotten about the game that was still happening that night. 

Nick grabs your wrist before you can go, “wait, any chance I could get your number before you go?”

You smile at him, glad he’d asked. You give him it quickly, looking back over your shoulder as your roommate pulled you away from the cute boy you’d spent most of your day with. 

—

You don’t hear from him at all that next day and figure he probably lost your number or didn’t care to actually save it. You chalk it up as a one time thing and keep going on with your life. 

You’re not too upset. You’d been talking to a guy from one of your classes when you met Nick anyways, so the loss of contact isn’t as noticed. 

A text from a random number the following Wednesday grabs your attention though. It’s simple, but it makes your heart beat pick up when your eyes fly over the words on the screen. 

_ ‘Hey it’s Nick! You going to this Saturday’s game? Tailgating?’ _

You frown, knowing you probably wouldn’t tailgate, but you had a ticket so you’d at least show for the game. 

You wait a few minutes, trying to think of the perfect reply for it, and finally settle on something that hopefully comes across polite at the very least. 

**‘Well hey. Probably not tailgating since it’s a noon game. I like my sleep too much lol. But I’ll be at the game!’**

The little conversation bubbles pop up immediately and you can’t believe he’s waiting there to see what you would say. You’re nervous for some reason. Sure he’d been cute, but did that really warrant this type of reaction?

You take a deep breath and wait for the message to be sent, but you don’t expect what he says at all. Your eyes widen and you have to actually think about your response for this one. 

_ ‘Yeah I’m not tailgating but maybe you wanna go to the game together?’ _

You thought he was a good guy, honestly, but you’d been talking to the guy from class for a few weeks now. He also happened to be nice, but he hadn’t exactly asked to hang out like Nick was. 

**‘We can probably do that. Do you want to grab coffee or something tomorrow and talk out some plans for it?’**

You don’t know where that strike of confidence comes from. You were seriously asking a Michigan athlete to get coffee with you as a precursor to attending an event with him. This was totally unlike you, but maybe your roommate was starting to rub off on you. 

_ ‘Sounds good. Starbucks around 2 o’clock?’ _ His message reads and he sends an address with it. 

You stare at the message for a few seconds, nodding to yourself. This was happening. If you thought he was worth it you’d probably stop talking to the guy from class and shift some focus over to Nick. 

Now you just had to wait for the better part of an entire day to find out what the next steps would be. That made you nervous. That was a lot of time to think, and more importantly, probably overthink things. 

—

You’re nervous as you show up to the Starbucks but you’re happy to find Nick waiting outside for you. The smile he gives you makes your knees a little week so you’re more than happy when he pulls you into a hug that steadies you a bit. 

“Come on, coffees on me,” he winks, holding the door to the shop open. 

You blush, thanking him and getting in line. You guys mention the noon-time game that coming Saturday and Nick extends the offer of you coming to the house first before heading to the stadium. 

The whole point of getting coffee had been to lay out these plans, but they’d only taken two minutes to have decided. You realize maybe you had invited him more to see him again rather than trying to figure out some plans that easily could have been decided in a few text messages. 

“Let’s go sit and talk?” he points his thumb over his shoulder once your drinks are ready. 

Sit and talk ends up being an understatement. Nick is so easy to talk to and he makes you laugh the entire time. You both lose track of time, your coffee long finished by the time a message buzzes in through your phone. 

You’re annoyed to find it’s the boy from class and that’s when you realize you need to tell him you’re no longer interested. You hadn’t known Nick long but you can tell there might be a good spark there so there’s no use wasting your time talking to someone else. 

Nick notices the name on your screen, a soft smile crossing his face, “boyfriend?” 

His question is delivered with an innocent tone, but you know he’s gauging the situation. You shake your head quickly, giving him a little smirk. 

“Not even close. Just a kid in one of my study groups,” you shrug it off. 

His smile grows with that knowledge and you can’t help biting your lip. You were definitely going to see what might happen here. 

And if he happens to kiss you on the cheek before you get on a bus back to your dorm, well you might be guilty of freaking out to your roommate as soon as you get back. 

—

“Hey!” Becker says with a big smile as he opens the door to the house for you. 

It’s substantially quieter there that Saturday compared to the previous weeks activities. You smile and wave at a couple of the boys as you pass by them. Jack leads you to the kitchen and opens the fridge, handing you a white claw with a smile. 

“To kill some of the nerves in case you have any,” he nods, patting your shoulder. 

You hear footsteps on the staircase and Nick is peaking downstairs just as you take a drink of the bubbly liquid in your hand. You immediately head for the stairs when he waves his finger in a ‘come here’ motion. You’re so screwed when it comes to him and you already know it. 

He waits for you and grabs your hand, gently pulling you up to his room. It’s surprisingly clean, which is a stark contrast to the rest of the house. 

“You can sit on the bed if you want. I just need to brush my teeth and I’m good to go,” he says, wandering back into his bathroom. 

You sit on the corner of the bed, which he’d even made, and look around. His books are in order and his desk only has a few extra things on it. He’s got some pictures here and there but it’s a pretty generic room otherwise. 

You hear the water shut off in the bathroom and he makes his way back into his room, a little smirk on his face as he walks over to you. 

“You look really cute,” he says, reaching to take the can from you, drinking a little bit of it. 

You feel your face flush hot, stomach doing somersaults like crazy. It was a simple act but somehow he made it seem attractive. 

“Thanks, so do you,” you mumble, trying to match his confidence, but not doing quite as well. 

He holds his hand out for you, pulling you up to stand in front of him. He stares a little longer than you expect, eyes flicking down to your lips, but he turns to leave his room instead. 

You frown a little but follow him downstairs. There’s a considerable amount of people now in the house and you squeeze Nick’s hand when you see them all. 

He turns around at the bottom of the stairs, you still one above him, “you okay? You don’t have to finish the drink. You can leave it here and we can head out.”

You glance at the group of people, Nick finally taking notice of what had thrown you off. He nods and takes your drink, setting it off on a side table. He moves you so you’re in front of him and places a hand on the small of your back to lead you towards the door. 

You almost make it out of the house when some of the guys start to hassle Nick, yelling all sorts of things at him. You keep your head down, a little embarrassed. 

“I’m so sorry about them,” he apologizes immediately as you begin the short walk to Michigan Stadium. 

You laugh a little, “it’s fine. I just didn’t expect so many people to be there. Got a little overwhelmed.”

He wraps an arm around your shoulders then and you look up at him. You swear it’s like he can read your mind. Now if only he’d just kiss you already so you knew what that was like too. 

“You don’t have to apologize for that. I know they’re all a lot to handle,” he reassures you. 

There’s no awkwardness as you watch the game together. In fact, the conversation that had gone so well at the coffee shop Thursday seemed to carry over.

It was easy to relax around Nick and you were so glad you’d agreed to hang out with him. You get so wrapped up in each other, talking and joking, that you almost don’t notice the game when it finishes up. You don’t even know what the final score was. 

As soon as you step outside the stadium gates Nick pulls you off to the side, away from the flow of people. You’re confused and the hesitant look on his face doesn’t help. 

“So, uhm, we’re kind of having people over tonight and I know you’ve already spent a ton of time with me, but would you maybe want to come back over?” He asks in a rush, and you’re almost not sure you caught all of it. 

You smile though when you realize he’s nervous. You nod at him, not even bothering to hide the fact you kept looking between his eyes and his lips. You’d spent all night trying not to make the first move but you were getting impatient. 

He laughs and finally picks up your hint. He leans in and kisses you gently, his hands finding your hips. You smile a little into the kiss, hands coming up around the back of his neck. 

“So is that a yes to coming back with me?” He asks when he finally pulls back. 

You laugh, leaning your forehead on his, “yeah, why stop the fun now?”

He kisses you one more time before pulling away. He takes your hand and heads back towards the house, ready to keep the night going. 


End file.
